Straight White Americans Need Not Apply

A group of pioneer pastors, farmers, and businessmen in Rice, Dakota, and Goodhue counties, under the leadership of the Rev. Bernt Julius Muus, the Rev. N.A. Quammen, and Harald Thorson, laid the groundwork for the college’s founding in 1874. The purpose of the school, then as now, was to offer a program of liberal studies to students preparing for careers in business, politics, the clergy, and other professions.
 
In choosing a name for the institution, the founders responded to strong Norwegian national and religious symbolism celebrating the splendor of the Nordic middle ages. They named the school for Olav II Haraldsson (spelled “Olaf” in the 19th century), king of Norway from 1016 until 1030. His martyrdom on July 29, 1030, at the Battle of Stiklestad, close to Pastor Muus’s own place of birth, made him Norway’s patron saint and eternal king and secured a national monarchy and the position of the Christian church in that country.

St. Olaf’s School was operated as an academy until 1886, when a college department was added. The name was changed to St. Olaf College in 1889, and the first college class graduated in 1890. Affiliated with the Lutheran Church throughout its history, St. Olaf remains a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Nice of the Lutherans to name their school after a Catholic. What has the school been up to recently?

St. Olaf College in Minnesota plans to host three virtual graduation ceremonies for different groups of minority students, while others must wait until next year to celebrate their completion of college.
“Self-identified domestic students of color, international students and LGBTQIA+ students” at the Minnesota school will receive their own virtual graduation ceremonies at the conclusion of this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, per an administrative email. Meanwhile, graduation for the rest of the class of 2020 has been “rescheduled for a date in late May/early June of 2021,” according to the school's website. 

“This event acknowledges the value and uniqueness of students’ experience..."    Tweet This

The three virtual graduation ceremonies for students in minority groups were announced by and will be hosted through the Taylor Center for Equity and Inclusion. This project of the school exists to help “students of color," “LBGTQIA+” and international students “celebrate” their “awesomeness factor,” per the center’s website.